Certain types of vans, sport-utility vehicles, and recreation vehicles have spare tires, ladders, and other accessories mounted on the rear door of such a vehicle. A collision, even at low speeds, of the rear of the vehicle with a tree, post, or the like can result in damage to a rear door to the extent that the door can no longer be opened or retained closed. Such damage can be particularly inconvenient when the driver is far from home and may render the vehicle vulnerable to theft of possessions carried in the vehicle. In addition, costs to repair such doors can be quite expensive.
Such vehicles are often equipped with trailer hitches for pulling boats on trailers, camping trailers, so-called travel trailers, and other kinds of trailers. Ball type hitches are universally favored since they enable universal pivoting of the trailer frame with respect to the towing vehicle frame. Ball hitches are available in a number of configurations, including those which are mounted on bumpers and others which are connected to the towing vehicle frame.
A ball hitch, which is becoming increasingly popular, is formed by a mounting frame with a rearwardly extending hitch socket. The mounting frame is secured to the vehicle frame by welding or bolts, or a combination of the two. The hitch socket is formed by a square cross section tubular member sized to telescopically receive a hitch member formed by a smaller square cross section tube which has a hitch ball mounted thereon. The hitch member is removably secured to the hitch socket by a bolt or pin. The rear end of the hitch socket is usually recessed forward of the plane of the rear bumper, while the installed hitch member extends rearward beyond the rear bumper. The hitch member can form a hazard which can trip or otherwise injure persons moving near the rear bumper For this reason, the hitch member is usually removed when not needed to avoid such a hazard and also to enhance the appearance of the vehicle.